WORKING OF THE BOATS IN THE RAPIDS. 6j 



bateaux were dragged laboriously, a few paces 

 at a time, by the united exertions of those on 

 board and those on shore. Sometimes, unable 

 to resist the impetuous force of the current, they 

 were swept back ; at others, suspended on the 

 arched back of a descending wave, they struggled 

 and laboured until they were again in the shelter 

 of a friendly eddy. But the canoe, frail as she 

 was, and too weak for the encounter of such rude 

 shocks, was nevertheless threaded through the 

 boiling rapids and sunken rocks with fearful 

 elegance. The cool dexterity with which she 

 was managed was truly admirable ; not a " set " * 

 was missed ; and, as she glanced past the boats, 

 she must have seemed to the envying crews as if 

 endowed with preternatural powers. We were 

 soon out of sight, and, by wading and poleing 

 over shoals and rapids, at length reached the head 

 of that dangerous and annoying river. The canoe 

 was then examined ; and, besides several minor 

 fractures, she was found to have been grooved by 

 the sharp and cutting rocks from one extreme 

 to the other. For many days there was heavy 

 rain, with thunder and lightning. The woods 

 were burning in all directions ; set on fire, ac- 

 cording to the account of some Cree Indians, 



* A " set" is the firm fixing of the pole against the bottom 

 of the river, and a false " set" has often occasioned the loss 

 of a canoe. 



F 2 



